Academy Award winning screenwriter and director Bill Condon is
best known for his work in the critically acclaimed movie version
“Gods and Monsters” (1998), starring Ian McKellen. He won
his Oscar for his writing and received nominations at the Independent
Spirit and WGA Awards. He also took home Oscar and Golden Globe
nominations and his second WGA nomination for scripting Rob
Marshall's successful musical “Chicago” (2002), which was
based on the stage musical of the same name, and an Independent
Spirit nomination and WGA nomination for the biographical film
“Kinsey” (2004), which he also directed. Condon also
wrote and directed the multiple Oscar nominated movie adaptation of
“Dreamgirls” (2006), through which Jennifer Hudson won an
Academy Award for her performance as Effie White. Starting out as a
film journalist, the graduate of Columbia University began his
screenwriting career in 1981 with Michael Laughlin's “Strange
Behavior” but did not make his directorial debut until 1987
with “Sister, Sister” (also wrote the script). Prior to
his success with “Gods and Monsters,” Condon spent the
early 1990s directing TV films. His upcoming film projects include
“Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said” (2011, as
director and writer) and “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
(2012, as director).

Condon won the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 2005 GLAAD Media
Awards, an award presented to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
individuals in the media for their contribution in fighting
homophobia. He was handed the Outfest Achievement Award at the 2007
L.A. Outfest and the Filmmaker Award at the 2008 Cinema Audio
Society.

Condon is openly guy. He is in a relationship with Jack Morrissey.

William

Childhood and Family:

Bill Condon was born William Condon on October 22, 1955, in New
York City, New York. His father was a detective and his mother went
to the same school as the Brooklyn born actress Susan Hayward (born
in 1917, died 1975). He grew up in an Irish Catholic family and
graduated from Regis High School, an all male Jesuit school in
Manhattan. He further pursued his studies at New York's Columbia
University, where he earned a BA in philosophy. Bill is a lifelong
film fan. When he was younger, he enjoyed watching classic horrors
films like James Whale's “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)
and William Castle's “House on Haunted Hill” (1959).

Dreamgirls

Career:

After college, Bill Condon began a career as a film journalist and
wrote for the publications “Millimeter” and “American
Film.” He later made friends with Michael Laughlin and they
collaborated on the horror spoof “Strange Behavior”
(1981), with Condon co-writing the script with director Laughlin. He
also served as an associate producer and acted in the film as Bryan
Morgan. He went on to co-write Laughlin's “Strange Invaders”
(1983), which was intended to be the second sequel in the terminated
“Strange Trilogy,” but the idea was abandoned after the
film failed to attract enough viewers. Condon received a Saturn
nomination for Best Writing for his work on the film.

In 1987, Condon made his feature directorial debut with “Sister,
Sister,” a thriller starring Eric Stoltz and Jennifer Jason
Leigh. He also co-wrote the script with Ginny Cerrella and Joel Cohen
and played a priest in the film. It was his last film of the decade
before he moved to television in the early 1990s.

Condon next directed and co-wrote the TV film “Murder 101,”
which aired on the USA Network on March 20, 1991, and starred Pierce
Brosnan and Dey Young. The thriller brought him a 1992 Edgar Allan
Poe for Best Television Feature or Miniseries, which he shared with
writing partner Roy Johansen. He followed it up directing Gregory
Hines, Annette O'Toole, Bill Nunn, Gregg Henry and Marc Macaula in
the drama “White Lie” (1991), a TV film adaptation of
Samuel Charters' novel “Louisiana Black,” and Bryan
Brown, Teri Hatcher, Anne De Salvo, Veronica Cartwright and Seymour
Cassel in the TV movie “Dead in the Water” (1991), based
on the novel “Web of Murder” by Harry Whittington. Still
in 1991, he briefly revisited the cinematic industry when he co-wrote
the sequel to the 1986 film “F/X,” “F/X2,”
which was directed by Richard Franklin and starred Bryan Brown and
Brian Dennehy.

Next, Condon directed Robert Urich, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew
Perry in the ABC drama “Deadly Relations” (1994), which
was adapted from the book “Deadly Relations: A True Story of
Murder in a Suburban Family” by Carol Donahue and Shirley Hall,
and Roger Moore and Malcolm McDowell in the ABC television movie “The
Man Who Wouldn't Die,” written by David Amann. Back to features
as a director, Condon directed Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, William
O'Leary, Bill Nunn, Matt Clark and Veronica Cartwright in “Candyman
2: Farewell to the Flesh” (1995), a sequel to the horror film
“Candyman,” an adaptation of the renowned British horror
novelist Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden.”
It grossed nearly $14 million.

Condon's big breakthrough arrived in 1998 when he wrote and
directed “Gods and Monsters,” a big screen version of
Christopher Bram's novel “Father of Frankenstein.”
Starring Ian McKellen, the film enjoyed critical acclaim and won
Condon an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on
Material from Another Medium. He also received an Independent Spirit
nomination for Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America nomination
for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or
Published, a Golden Satellite for Best Motion Picture Screenplay -
Adaption, and a Bram Stoker for Screenplay. He also nabbed a Silver
Seashell for Special Prize of the Jury at the 1998 San Sebastián
International Film Festival, a Golden Space Needle for Best Director
at the 1998 Seattle International Film Festival, an Audience Choice
Award (2nd place) at the Chicago International Film Festival, a
Critics Award at the 1998 Deauville Film Festival, a Chlotrudis
nomination for Best Director, and a British Independent Film
nomination for Best Director. Under his direction, McKellen was
nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role and a Golden
Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
and Lynn Redgrave, who portrayed Hanna, won a 1999 Golden Globe for
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion
Picture and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. “Gods
and Monsters,” executive produced by Barker, grossed over $6
million in the domestic market against its budget of $3.5 million.
Other cast members included Brendan Fraser, Matt McKenzie, Lolita
Davidovich, Jack Betts, Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy and Jack Plotnick.

In the new millennium, Condon branched out to episodic television
when he directed “The Others” episode “1112”
(2000). Two years later, he adapted the stage musical “Chicago”
for the big screen version of the same name, which was directed by
Rob Marshall and starred Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart and
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly. The film received rave reviews
from critics and was a huge box office success, grossing over $306
million against its budget of $45 million. For his writing, Condon
was handed his second Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe
nomination, a WGA nomination, an Edgar Allan Poe Award, and a Golden
Satellite nomination. The film also starred Richard Gere, Queen
Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs and Colm
Feore.

After co-scripting “Shortcut to Happiness” (2004), a
film adaptation of the Stephen Vincent Benet classic short story “The
Devil and Daniel Webster,” which was directed by Alec Baldwin
and starred Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Dan
Aykroyd and Kim Cattrall, Condon wrote and directed “Kinsey”
(2004), a biographical film about Alfred Kinsey (played by Liam
Neeson). For his work, Condon took home an Independent Film
nomination for Best Screenplay, a Broadcast Film Critics Association
nomination for Best Writer, Satellite nominations for Best Director
and Best Screenplay - Original, and a WGA nomination for Best
Original Screenplay.

In 2006, Condon wrote and directed the screenplay for the movie
adaptation of the 1981 acclaimed Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,”
starring Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer
Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. The movie
won Oscars for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing and Best Performance
by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Hudson), not to mention
additional Oscar nominations for Best Achievement in Art Direction,
Best Achievement in Costume Design, Best Performance by an Actor in a
Supporting Role (Murphy) and Best Achievement in Music Written for
Motion Pictures, Original Song, for the songs “Listen,”
“Love You I Do” and “Patience.” Condon was
handed a Satellite Award for Best Director, a Satellite nomination
for Best Screenplay, Adapted, a Directors Guild of America nomination
for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures and
Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics Choice nomination for
Best Director for his work in “Dreamgirls.”

After a break, Condon returned to the small screen in 2009 when he
co-wrote and produced the “81st Annual Academy Awards”
(2009), hosted by Huge Jackman. He shared Emmy nominations for
Outstanding Special Class Programs and Outstanding Writing for a
Variety, Music or Comedy Special for the show. He also directs the TV
comedy series “The Big C” (2010), whose cast includes
Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Gabriel Basso, William Duffy and John
Benjamin Hickey.

Condon is the director and writer of the upcoming biography film
“Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said” (2011), which is
based on the life of comedian Richard Pryor. The film will star
Marlon Wayans as Pryor. He has also signed on to direct the British
big screen adaptation of Paul Torday's novel “Salmon Fishing in
the Yemen” (2012).

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